New temples are beginning construction or are being dedicated at a rapid pace—in the month of January alone, five temple announcements and milestones took place. Here’s a look at each one of them.
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Port Vila Vanuatu Temple
Most recently, the Church announced a groundbreaking date for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple. The ceremony will be held on Saturday, March 4, 2023. This will be the small island nation’s first temple. Currently, the closest temple for Latter-day Saints in Vanuatu is the Suva Fiji Temple over 700 miles away.
You can read more about the new temple on Church Newsroom.
Anchorage Alaska Temple
On January 23, the First Presidency announced that the Anchorage Alaska Temple will be reconstructed.
The construction is expected to start in early 2024 with completion by the summer of 2026. The square footage of the temple will increase from 11,930 to approximately 30,000. It will be a standard plan two-room, 40-seat building.
The significantly larger temple will be built on the same property where a meetinghouse is currently in use. The existing meetinghouse (and location of the new larger temple structure) and the current smaller temple share a parking lot. The existing, smaller Anchorage Alaska Temple will remain open during construction of the new temple structure.
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You can see the Church’s announcement on Church Newsroom.
San Juan Puerto Rico Temple
The new San Juan Puerto Rico Temple was dedicated on Sunday, January 15, 2023, by Elder D. Todd Christofferson.
“The temple will bless this island,” he said, as reported by Church News. “It has had a lot of challenges in recent years, natural disasters and other kinds of difficulties that have been serious and caused a lot of destruction. It will make a difference.”
Elder Jorge M. Alvarado, General Authority Seventy and First Counselor in the Caribbean Area presidency, said during the dedication, “This will bring what we need. Puerto Rico needs joy, it needs happiness. There is so much beauty around us, but now with the temple, people can have hope of a better Puerto Rico.”
“[Having a temple in Puerto Rico means] now we can be closer to God,” said Amanda Toro, a 16-year-old Puertorriqueña Latter-day Saint told Church News. She also explained that having a temple nearby means they can share the experience with other youth from the Church and invite their friends who are not members.
You can read more about the dedication and stories from the Puerto Rican Latter-day Saints who attended the dedication on Church News.
Barcelona Spain Temple
On January 9, the Church released information about the location and size of the new Barcelona Spain Temple. This temple will be built at the intersection of Avinguda de la Vía Augusta and Avinguda de la Clota, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain. The Church plans to build a two-story temple of approximately 27,500 square feet, with an adjacent building for patron housing, an arrival center, and a distribution center.
The temple in Barcelona will be Spain’s second temple, after the Madrid Spain Temple. More than 61,000 Latter-day Saints in over 130 congregations currently live in Spain.
You can learn more about the Spanish Latter-day Saints and the Church’s plans for the new temple on Church Newsroom.
Querétaro Mexico Temple
Construction of the Querétaro Mexico Temple began on January 7, 2023, with a groundbreaking ceremony presided over by Elder Adrián Ochoa, General Authority Seventy and Second Counselor in the Mexico Area Presidency.
Elder Ochoa also gave the dedicatory prayer at the new temple site. “God wants to bless this town and all the people who live in the cities that will make up the district of this temple,” Elder Ochoa said.
Read more about the groundbreaking ceremony on Church Newsroom.
